Monday, April 4, 2016

Tender Years: Cowgirl

"A grownup is a child with layers on." - Woody Harrelson

Peeling back the layers.

We lived several places while I was young, all of them rural. At two of them, Daddy had a Jenny (female donkey) and plowed and raised a garden. There were no cattle, or ranches. My sisters (who were in high school when I was born) and their husbands had horses and were in the local trail riders association, Sarah's husbands' family always had cattle. Later on, Edna's husband started raising some.

Yet this memory is from those earliest years in Carthage. We lived in a rent house on the side of a rural highway. Daddy always did watch every "shoot'em up" and western that came on TV. And I was often times right beside him. In fact, my first love was a rodeo cowboy named "Stoney Burke" and played by Jack Lord. (Later of the original Hawaii 5-O)

All of that to say, I don't know if I ever asked for the cowgirl get-up. I have no idea if it was a gift just from Mama and Daddy or if everyone bought one piece. All I do know and remember is being proud as punch sitting on my Daddy's knee in that outfit. And I have vague memories of the photo taking, taking too long and growing impatient. After all, I was a cowgirl now, and I had things to do: stick horses to ride, cows to herd and bad guys to shoot.

Me and my daddy, Clayon

I think Daddy was winking. He loved to wink. Notice the jeans were way too long, see them turned up and sticking above my boot tops? Knowing me and Daddy, we had to try it all on and have the picture made before Mama could wash and hem them.

Me & my mother, Jesse Ruth

What about you? Were you ever a cowgirl or cowboy? Did you grow up watching all the old westerns, where the good guys were good and the bad guys were bad? Rural life, city life? Farm or ranch?

I was a Bonanza fan, too! I loved Lorne Greene and thought he was a hunk. :) I also like Big Valley with the Barkleys. We watched John Wayne and Lone Ranger shows, too. We used to watch lots of cool stuff when I was a kid. And, we even survived having to get up from the floor or couch to change the channel on our 3 channel television with the rabbit ears on top.

We played Cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, all the fun games of childhood.

I started off my childhood living downtown. At some point before I started school, we moved to the south end outside of town and into a mill village. My daddy didn't work at the mill, though. He worked for Owens-Corning Fiberglad at that point. The summer that I turned 13, he bought 8 acres of land in a more rural area, but still within pedaling distance of our former home. It wasn't a farm or a ranch, but a really big yard in the woods and it was great!

I remember playing cowboys and indians. Cops and robbers were much more fun. We also played civil war which was basically a race up our road with one person carrying an American flag and the other a Southern flag. This was around 1961.We weren't that complicated in central Georgia. One part of suburbia and growing up in a military town. You just did not have a strong identity one way or the other.

Cowboys and ranchers were pretty much the norm around here. With Gunsmoke always on TV and Johnny Cash and Roger Miller on the radio,I'd run barefoot through the desert pretending to be Tony Nelson's Jeannie:-) I loved how she could disappear whenever she wanted.

You may remember the photos of my Dad from last year...the cowboy with the golden palomino!!! When your Dad was a bronc buster cowboy and you could ride before you walked...you were a cowgirl. So, yes, I was a cowgirl, and although I don't ride anymore and traded my Tony Llamas for Birkenstocks, I will always be a cowgirl at heart. Loved seeing your photos...cute post for 'C'.Sue at CollectInTexas Gal

Cowboy definitely :) I watched all western movies with my dad and Dirty Harry's movies - in the kindergarten all other girls wanted to be singers or teachers but I was proud to state that I'm going to be Dirty Harry when I grow up :)

I was a film addict from a very early age (still am but don't see as many as i would like) so I've seen all the old Westerns and pretty much everything else pre 1980! I remember the first film that made me really cry though - It was called The Summer of My German Soldier - such a sad story about prejudice. There are so many good westerns it's hard to pick a favourite. I think I enjoyed them as they were so very different from British films with our stiff upper lip and upper crust accents accents:D